September 21, 2006

'Brothers and Sisters': Field day for Sally

Given that TV is so obsessed with formulas involving doctors, lawyers, ticking clocks and cops, I just have to wonder, is there any hope for the family drama? Can this genre be saved?

Let’s hope so. If nothing else, “Brothers and Sisters” (9:01 p.m. Sunday, WLS-Ch. 7) is a worthy attempt to do just that.

“Brothers” is more than just a richly appointed family saga; the show, which inherits the spot left open by the move of “Grey’s Anatomy” to Thursdays, is also Calista Flockhart’s return to prime-time television. So let’s get that part out of the way first: She’s just fine as conservative talk-show host Kitty Walker. But the former “Ally McBeal” star is far from the only attraction.

“Brothers” caused lots of chatter because of some recasting and behind-the-scenes staff shuffling over the summer; in the end, much of the original pilot was reshot. Copies of that first pilot aren’t available, so it’s impossible to judge how Betty Buckley, who was replaced by Sally Field, filled out the role of Nora, mother of the five Walker kids and wife of a wealthy produce entrepreneur.

Casting Field, however, was an extremely savvy decision. Whether or not you care about Flockhart’s return to network television, you should care about Field’s; her return to the small screen is a showcase for a masterful performance.

As Nora, her watchful, wary brown eyes are alert to every nuance of conversation; she always seems on the verge of speaking her mind, but she covers up that possibly dangerous impulse with cheerful hospitality. That doesn’t fool her kids.

“Please, please, don’t push me. I’m trying so hard. … I was afraid of the things I didn’t want to say,” she tells Kitty, who has returned home to California for the first time in three years after a huge argument with her mom over the post-Sept. 11 wars and her brother Justin’s decision to enlist to fight in Afghanistan.

Flockhart and Field calibrate the conflict between Kitty and Nora perfectly; they both know that one ill-timed word could break them apart forever.

Those two alone would be enough to anchor a prime-time drama, but Rachel Griffiths gives her usual nuanced performance as another Walker sister, Sarah, whose life is the kind of blur that any working mother can relate to. Sarah is troubled that the spark may have gone out of her marriage, and she’s also getting troubling hints that all may not be well at the family produce firm, where she has worked since leaving corporate life.

The dialogue in a short scene between Kitty and Sarah feels a little forced, as does a family dinner-table conversation that comes across as stage-y, but overall, the taste we get of the various Walker family dynamics is intriguing. In an intelligent move, creator Jon Robin Baitz hasn’t made Kitty the sole conservative in the bunch; her father and brother share her views, if not her belief that Mom and Dad’s seemingly idyllic relationship is just like that of “Ron and Nancy” -- as in Reagan.

In any case, the introduction to the five Walker siblings, as well as their parents and spouses, is handled gracefully; it’s not often that a program introduces a dozen characters in the first 15 minutes without making you feel clobbered by information.

But meeting the Walker clan and getting a glimpse at their personal lives -- at their political differences, marriage troubles, possible alcoholism in one case, financial malfeasance in another -- is like being led to a table of tantalizing appetizers. Even as you take a sample of these introductory delights, you’re wondering whether the main course will live up to your expectations.

Yawn. So mom and dad's idyllic relationship is Ron and Nancy -- does that mean Nancy broke up Ron's first marriage, as that alleged moral paragon Nancy did, and that Nancy used astrologers to divine Ron's schedule?

Having now watched it, I have two complaints about an otherwise enjoyable show:

When Flockhart starts defending her politics and support of the war -- "I was in New York on 9/11" -- why doesn't Field respond by saying that Iraq has nothing to do with the attacks? It almost seemed as if the writers were bending over backwards to be "even-handed," to the point that the politics become a cutout, not a real issue.

Second, and this is more of a nuts-and-bolts issue, the second I saw Skerritt listed as a "special guest star," I turned to my wife and said, "how many episodes before he's dead?" She called it, "by the end of this pilot." Really, why plant such a big giveaway in the opening credits? If it's about a family, and Dad is only a guest star, a lot of the surprise just goes "phhfffftttt!"

I tuned in because of Sally Field AND Tom Skerrit. (Don't really care about Calista Flockhart.) Now I'm turned off since they killed off poor Tom in just the first episode. Now's its just plain depressing.

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